Wednesday, February 6, 2013

First of all, I want to ask
forgiveness from those of you who have read the few things I’ve written in the
past and asked when I would post again. I’ve already asked my Daddy God for
forgiveness.I think I got overwhelmed
with life and the pressure to produce blogs that would speak to you instead of
letting God do all the speaking.Now there
is a chance you may be overwhelmed with blogs that will come out of my not
writing. J

This week Ronnie and I will attend
funerals number six and seven of the New Year.We have gone to at least one funeral for the last six weeks.Please don’t tell me it is because we are
getting old!I would rather think it is
because our Daddy God has blessed us with so many people we love and care about
deeply and vice versa. Also, there has been a lot of stuff happening in our
lives that I have had to remind that gray matter between my ears to keep
praising the One who has everything in control.He sees darkness and light as the same. You know pain isn’t always in
the death of someone we care for but in day to day living.

One thing I did this year was to
start journaling each day and making it a gratitude journal.Maybe you would like to start one yourself
because it helps to stay focus on Him and what He does each day.Yet, the best way to stay focused is to focus
on the Word each day.I do short bible
readings each day but I also do word searches.I can thank my mother for giving me the love of words.I might not be the sharpest pencil in the box
but words do intrigue me.Several months
back I started on a journey of each word of the fruit of the spirit.I think not it just happened that I’ve been
on the word ‘peace’ for awhile when everything started to get murky in
life.I would like to share with you my
favorite verse for my life right now. For me my favorite verses changes as life
changes. I like the following version with all the thees and thous but will use
another translation later.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee;
because he trusteth in thee.Trust ye in
Jehovah for ever, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock.”Is. 26: 3-4ASV

Perhaps, I
like this version because my Daddy God is referred to as Jehovah.The God of Israel who we see performs all
kinds of miracles for the nation of Israel.Perhaps, it reminds me he will perform
miracles for me, also.I like that He is
called the everlasting rock which simply means He is my everlasting strength.

Perfect peace! I don’t know anyone
who doesn’t want perfect peace.I find
myself calling it perfected peace.It
can only be perfected if my mind is stayed on Him and He gave me a visual
illustration of perfect peace this weekend.Sunday, Peyton and Gracean wanted to come home with us after church.Softball season has started for their dad and
they had been at a tournament the day before. At one point, I looked in the
back seat to see Gracean staring off in space.I told Ronnie she was in la la land and it wouldn’t be long before she’d
be asleep.Turning around again she had
closed her eyes and a few moments later the mouth was wide open ready to catch
flies.She was out like a light with her
head rolling from side to side then on her chest and then rolling back onto the
back of the seat.

Would it not be nice to go to sleep
like that all the time?I say all the time because Ronnie says I can
do the same thing at times.J

We found the reason she could fall
asleep and stay asleep was because she had no worries.She felt secure.She wouldn’t be able to tell you why she
could fall asleep as she does.It is
just her existence. It is her life.She
has not experienced life with the hurts of others, grief, disappointment,
fears, or rejections. You could fill in the blank.Go ahead fill your blank.

Isn’t it what our Daddy God is
telling us in this verse?He can keep us in perfect peace if our mind
is stayed on Him; but not if our
minds are playing our favorite game of ‘what if’.I bet you are good at this game our enemy has
played with you.I know my record has
scored high in the past. I still try to play it from time to time.What
if this happens?What if such and such
doesn’t happen.What if I had done or
not done…..Then there is the blame game
or the control game.The rules are so
simple:just don’t think on what
victories Jehovah has done for you in other circumstances. In circumstances
only He can be given glory.Don’t
remember He is our refuge, fortress, our everlasting rock or strength.Don’t praise Him, worship Him and think only
of our circumstances; not that He is in them.

Every translation I looked in used
the term ‘stayed’.Granted I didn’t look at all the
translations the wonder of technology allows me to see; but I did look at a
lot.First of all, stayed reminded me of Lamaze.I had to discipline my mind
to know the pain was there for a short time and not try to ignore it away or
grit my teeth through the pain.It was a
fact my body was hurting every few minutes then every few seconds until a
bundle of joy emerged from the pain.In
Lamaze, you are told to have a focal point to concentrate on while doing the
breathing techniques you were suppose to
have practiced before labor racks your body with pain.With one pregnancy we were racing through the
night to the hospital when Ronnie passed a car in front of us whose tail lights
I was using as my focal point.I
realized I had to find a focal point that could not be moved because when I
complained he hollered he wasn’t delivering a baby! I then used a light on the
dash board.Second pregnancy we did a
refresher class in Lamaze but I didn’t practice, after all I knew what I was
suppose to do and what was expected.

Life happens.Faith isn’t faith if we don’t go through pain
and learn to have our focal point-our mind stayed- on Jehovah. Our minds won’t
stay on Him if we haven’t practiced our breathing techniques (focus on the
Word) when (not if) life racks our minds with pain. Remember when I didn’t
practice my Lamaze because I knew it.Well, that labor was harder because I had trouble relaxing and had to
concentrate harder on what I was suppose to do.If we don’t keep His Word fresh in our mind (no matter how well we know
it), we will struggle with the pain. Know that “….His anger is but for a
moment, His favor is for life; weeping
may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Ps. 30:5It does
not matter if we bring on the weeping or someone or something else does; if our
mind is stayed on Him, then joy will emerge from the pain.

I don’t know what the Capitol One
commercials are now but they used to ask what is in your wallet.I’d like to ask what is on your mind.What is your focal point?Be careful what you dwell on.Like those tail lights some focal points will
change or leave.Our Daddy God will
never be moved.Let me go

back to my love of words where I found the biblical
definition for stayed is the
following.“a primitive root; to prop (literally or figuratively); reflexively, to
lean upon or take hold of (in a favorable or unfavorable sense):--bear up,
establish,

I promised another translation and
it is from the Amplified Bible.Maybe
you would like to write it down or write it down from your translation to have
with you.

“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose
mind (both its inclination and its character) is stayed on You, because he
commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in you.So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him,
leans on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever, for the Lord God is an
everlasting Rock (the Rock of Ages).”IS. 26:3-4 Amplified Bible